Self Interest Quotes

230 Self Interest quotes by 193 unique authors

Ultimately a highly complex sentiment, having its first origin in the social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest,… — Charles Darwin
The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race. — Gough Whitlam
I suspect it is for one's self-interest that one looks at one's surroundings and one's self. This search is personally born and is indeed my… — Lee Friedlander
Competition is like experimentation in science, a discovery process, and it must rely on the self interest of producers, it must allow them to use… — Friedrich August von Hayek
Opportunism is self interest seeking with guile often involving subtle forms of deceit, especially calculated efforts to mislead, distort, disguise, obfuscate, or otherwise confuse. This… — Unknown Author
Our civilization is locked in the grip of an ideology - corporatism. An ideology that denies and undermines the legitimacy of individuals as the citizen… — John Ralston Saul
Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming. — John McCain
A commercial civilization is money-oriented, profit-oriented. Commercial values always tend to wrench a society free of tradition.Economics from education to public service is being reorganized… — John Ralston Saul
I see no clear reason why the doctrine of self-interest properly understood should turn men away from religious beliefs. — Alexis de Tocqueville
The reason for forgiving your enemies is not for their benefit but for your own benefit. Holding grudges against other people doesn’t hurt them; doesn’t even bother them much… — Brad Blanton
Never again will I allow our political self-interest to deter us from doing what we know to be morally right. Atrocity and terror are not… — Harrison Ford
If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those… — John Glenn
I know what's best for me, after all I have been in the Claudette Colbert business longer than anybody. — Claudette Colbert
Men are to be guided only by their self-interests. Good government is a good balancing of these; and, except a keen eye and appetite for… — Thomas Carlyle
Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They may change the appearance, perhaps even the conduct, but never the object of supreme desire... Fear… — Bernard of Clairvaux
Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage. — Robert A. Heinlein
The new world economic order is not an exercise in philanthropy, but in enlightened self-interest for everyone concerned. — Carlos Fuentes
Aside from higher considerations, charity often operates as a vastly wise and prudent principle-a great safeguard to its possessor. Men have committed murder for jealousy's… — Herman Melville
A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action. — David Seabury
President Ford was a devoted, decent man of impeccable integrity who put service to his country before his own self interest. He helped heal our… — Mark Udall
The ruin of the human heart is self-interest, which the American merchant calls self-service. We have become a self-service populace, and all our specious comforts… — Edward Dahlberg
The working of great institutions is mainly the result of a vast mass of routine, petty malice, self interest, carelessness and sheer mistake. Only a… — George Santayana
Love is reckless; not reason. Reason seeks a profit. Loves comes on strong, consuming herself unabashed. Yet in the midst of suffering love proceeds like… — Unknown Author
Human beings are 'emotional amoral egoists,' driven above all by emotional self-interest. All of our thoughts, beliefs and motivations are neurochemically mediated, some predetermined for… — Nayef Al-Rodhan
We must formulate, with both imagination and restraint, a new approach to the Middle East - not pressing our case so hard that the Arabs… — John F. Kennedy

Who Wrote These Self Interest Quotes

193 authors contributed a total of 230 Self Interest Quotes, led by these top contributors: